


Donna, my Donna Noble

by Opulant_Jackal



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 18:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7903852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opulant_Jackal/pseuds/Opulant_Jackal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is an old lady on Conner's block that tells the most fantastic stories about stars, galaxies and a man with sad, ancient eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stories We Tell

There is an old lady on Conner’s block that tells the most miraculous stories and even though his parents have warned him to stay away, he slips away from school at lunch to visit her.  
She always sits in the same spot on her back porch and always smile when he comes to visit her. Conner’s mom explained that she shouldn’t be able to remember him or what he’s told her but whenever she sees him, she smiles so Conner just figures Ma is wrong again. She was wrong calling the old lady dangerous and a mean; Conner doesn’t think she’s mean, he knows this because she always checks to make sure he isn’t hungry or asks if he wants a cookie. He always says he isn’t hungry and always takes a cookie.  


The old lady likes to smile a lot, even when the wind howls and the sun doesn’t peak through the clouds. Those are the days she likes the best and Conner likes them too because that’s when she tells him stories. For someone who can’t remember anything, she knows an awful lot. She points out large stars, calling them strange names, galaxies that hold so much, galaxies that don’t exist. Conner knows because he looks each one of them up when he gets home but he doesn’t mind; for the hour she speaks about them, they are real and filled with amazing creatures.  


Conner likes when she tells him about something called the Ood, a peaceful people who stand together and fight for a better future. When Conner comes to visit after dinner, slipping through his window and climbing down to the street below, she always scolds him but he doesn’t mind because when the stars come out, she tells him about him. She can never remember his name, something that miffs Conner to no end but she remembers his eyes. Ancient eyes, she calls them, Sad eyes.  


She tells him of giant wasps with a unicorn, a giant spider that tried to eat her, of a young lady who captured her heart but… she never finishes that one and because of her watery eyes, Conner never asks. He knows that the girl was named Jenny and she loved to run, that she was brave and honest. She saved the old lady and the man with the ancient eyes and Conner thanks her silently as he sits underneath the stars. He especially likes the story about the Sontarans, how fearless but frightened they can be. They were made to be that way, the old lady explains, and while the galaxy is wonderful, not every being has a choice of what they become.  


And the ancient man, Conner asks, did he have a choice?  


The way she studies the sky, watching the subtly turn of the universe as her eyes swim with memories, makes Conner feel sad. In a way he had a choice, She always replies, but it really was no choice at all. 

Every night before he goes home, she acts like she doesn’t know the stars anymore, doesn’t know the ancient man, doesn’t know Conner. She still smiles but she always asks him who he is and why he’s out so late. At these times she wont know about the Ood, the Sontarans, or the Wasp with its unicorn. She’s just an old lady who tells him to go home, its late and his parents must be furious.  


They end every night like this but by the next day the old lady is back to normal, no longer confused about who he is or what the stars are named. He’s only known the old lady for a few months but he feels like he’s been her friend for years. He knows her stories, every one and loves to talk with her about the endless wonder scattered above them in the universe.  


Do you think he’s still out there, he asks one afternoon as they watch the sunset, the light turning her silver hair a fiery red.  


I know he is. Her blue eyes sparkle as they look high above them, watching the first few stars come out. I just know it.  


Conner never had a friend like her before and soon visits her everyday. But one day, after he’s slipped past his mother after dinner and walked to her house, he doesn’t find her on the back porch in her chair. Rain or shine, snow or sun, she always sits in that one chair on her porch. But instead of her, Conner sees a tall lanky man sitting on the steps.  


That’s my seat you know. He informs the man as he walks across the yard. You can’t have it.  
The tall man apologizes and gets to his feet. He’s skinny and wears a brown coat and pants. Conner eyes him warily before sitting down in his spot.  


What are you doing here, the man asks.  


I’m waiting for the old lady, Conner answers, what are you doing here?  


I was just visiting. His voice hints that there is more but he reminds Conner of the old lady and how she gets sometimes so he doesn’t ask.  


Why are you waiting for her, the man leans against the pillar of the porch, idly watching as the sun dips beneath the trees.  


There are no stars yet so the old lady isn’t too late to come outside, but the house is dark and Conner frowns at it. She never like her house being dark, something about shadows lingering on the ground, a darkness that never quite leaves, always bothered her.  


We talk about the stars. Conner explains, shifting towards the back door. He pretends not to notice how the man stiffens beside him, how his eyes suddenly start to blink hard, how he sinks to the ground beside Conner.  


What’s your name, Conner asks, still staring at the back door.  


The man hesitates before saying, I’m the Doctor.  


And all at once Conner feels something in his heart splinter. Whenever he asked if she was alright, the old lady would repeat what her Doctors had told her but say she was fine despite it. There would only be one reason why she wasn't here and her Doctor was instead.  


She’s not coming out, he turns to the lanky man watching the red sun cast shadows across his face, is she?  


I’m afraid not. The words are heavy and muffled as the man buries his head in his palms.  


But while Conner is sad, he doesn’t cry. She’s talked about this, he says to the quiet man. She said she wanted to go on one last adventure.  


That’s why I came. The man whispers back, his shoulders shuddering. We were going to go on one last adventure.  


Conner shakes his head. You’re her Doctor Mister and besides, she told me she wanted to do this adventure alone. She had done so many things in this universe she was ready to move onto the next. She was ready, he searches for the words, she was ready to have an adventure of her own. She said she wanted to fly through the stars to that other place and have some fun. She was ready Doctor, she was ready to travel again.  


The lanky man wipes his eyes and Conner digs in his pocket until he finds his dinner tissue and offers it to the man. After blowing his nose, the man studies Conner as intensely as Conner studies him.  


Did you know her well, he asks.  


Conner smiles at that. We always told each other stories but her’s were always more interesting than mine.  


Would you, his voice wavers but the man pushes through, Would you mind telling me the stories?  


So Conner tells him everything he can remember. He points at the stars, tracing dozens of paths across the back sky, tells of the wondrous people living in the sky, tells the man how the old lady loved to laugh and how she loved her family.  


The man is strange. While he laughs at the stories Conner tells of the stars and is interested in the tales of the ancient man and the old lady, he loves the stories about home. He doesn’t tell Conner this but the boys knows by the way his smile seems to ease when he tells them so instead of telling him of the spectacular adventures the old lady had, he tells the lanky man about her.  


How she married, how her three children all married and how sometimes her grandchildren play with Conner on the streets in front of the house until their parents call them home. How she loved her husband until the vary end, how she loved the house so much she refused to sell it even though her children told her it was the right thing to do, how she loved Conner and Conner loved her back. But most importantly he tells the man how she saved him, how she taught him to live a life with meaning even when he didn’t want to anymore, to fight for what he loved, to grow and be a hero, to be courageous even when he was scared, be gentle when he was strong.  


He tells the man all of this, tracing the stars and finally allowing his tears to race down his cheeks along with the lanky man’s own.  


The night sky gives way to a rosy glow but Conner isn’t tired and neither is the man beside him. In the quiet only the morning can be, they listen as the birds wake themselves and sing once more, listen to the slight breeze ringing through the treetops, listen to the sounds of the neighborhood waking up.  


I’ll miss her. Conner whispers, as though its a secret.  


The man gently hugs the younger boy close and Conner grips him back tightly, crying again as the sun rises through the trees.  


I miss her too, the man whispers back. But you know what, she’s never going to leave us, she’ll always be right here. He presses a hand to Conner’s heart, and the boy nods, wiping his tears away.  


I like to think she’s off exploring the stars again. Conner murmurs, watching the last of them wink away as the Earth turns once more. She was always happiest when she could see them.  


The man climbs to his feet and Conner follows but instead of going to the street, the man stands in the middle of the yard and inserts a key into thin air.  


He turns, studying Conner with heavy eyes before he smiles, Allons-y Conner, he says and just disappears. A sound like a car with its brakes on heaves then fades, heaves then fades until only Conner stands in the quiet morning. The boy shakes his head, for sure that for a single instance he saw a police box, like the ones from that old television show his parents like to watch before turning away.  
He never forgets the old lady, nor the man who came calling one last time on his old friend, never forgets the name Donna Noble and never forgets the man with the ancient eyes who stayed the night with him to remember the old lady who loved the stars.


	2. Bound by Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Does anything have to be real to matter?"

“There is something different about mum isn’t there.” 

Sally never really knew why she kept asking her da that. She would ask mum the same thing but she would always laugh that everyone, in their own way particular way, was odd. Da at least seemed to understand what she was talking about but he always got that smile when he answered; a smile that told more than his words. 

“She’s one of a kind.” 

Her and da always kept each other company in the front room, reading their books and occasionally chatting but mostly keeping a comfortable silence with one another. Sally had inherited his love of books and the written word, just as her siblings, Geoff and Jenny had taken after mum. Sally oftentimes watched as they both chased after ma in an all consuming game of tag, heads tilted back in laughter, sunlight glinted off mum’s red hair. 

There was something different about her but it was a good sort of stuff. Sally decided, turning her attention back to her book. And she really was one of a kind. 

Mum could remember anything. It didn’t matter what you would ask her, she would know it. When Sally asked for help with her math homework, mum would object, insisting that da would be a better teacher. But five minutes after Sally had convinced her to sit down and help her, exactly five minutes, mum would have solved everything. Of course she would teach Sally along the way but whether it be calculate, geometry, history, mum could help. She knew everything in an instance; the rules of every language, all the history from any where around the globe no matter how minute, every detail from theorem, theoretical situations; mum knew it all. Da was smart. He had gone to college and had been the head to his firm for a few years when Sally was little but the only word to describe mum was genius. She knew everything in an instant but the next moment she would laugh and say she didn’t know how she did it. 

I must be loosing my mind. She would joke. Loosing my mind. 

x 

Sally was in high school when she was called from class. 

No one would- could answer her questions as she attempted to discern why. That action alone made her blood run cold and she shivered despite the sweltering heat in the office. 

Her father picked her up in the middle of the day and before she even closed the car door, she had asked what happened. 

His lips were a thin line as he replied “Your mother’s collapsed” 

Geoff’s and Jenny’s footsteps echoed off the high ceiling of the hospital’s corridor as they waited outside their room. Sally watched them paces back and forth, watching her father speak to the doctors on the other side of the glass, the slight breeze from her sibling’s pacing ruffling her hair. Her sibling’s had inherited mum’s need for action, her ferocity for life. But Sally didn’t care for words when they finally allowed them into mum’s room. Before anyone could speak, Sally was curled at her side, laying on top of the lumpy hospital bed underneath a blanket she had brought from home. 

I’m okay bird. Her mother’s arms wrapped around her and Sally shut her eyes as they rocked back and forth. Back and forth. I’m okay bird. 

x 

“Where do you think I’ll go?” Sally waved with her parents as Geoff and Jenny’s truck slowly disappeared down the street. The twins didn’t want to go to the same college so they settled with being a few blocks apart. A cool wind, so different from the summer heat, made the girl shiver. Her father patted her on the back and walked inside and Sally followed. Mum hadn’t moved. 

Mum? She called. 

The woman started but didn’t turn away from the street. There was a distance about her. Sally had known something had changed the day mum had gotten home. Her smile never quiet met her eyes, she had taken to staring at walls, chairs, paintings. 

But the stars, erupting over their house, rising as the sun fled, were her greatest inspiration. She had liked them before but now she gazed at them like an old friend, lips moving in a silent verse. Sometimes she would be the mum she knew but at night she would breath phrases that didn’t make sense, her eyes drawn to the sea of black above them. 

Sally stepped back through the door, knowing without looking that da was waiting just around the corner, listening to every word she said. He never said anything about the shift but Sally knew he had noticed. 

Geoff and Halley might not have but da had always loved mum for who she was; he knew something was different. And yet he was as helpless as his daughter as to discerning why. 

Mum. She jumped when Sally took her hand, gently tugging her inside. Come on mum, it’s cold. 

Cold, yes. Her voice was tired as she allowed herself to be drawn inside, her eyes still searching for her stars. Yes it must be cold. 

“Where do you think I’ll go to college Mum?” 

“Anywhere Bird; anywhere.” 

x 

Da said she had inherited mum’s talent when she graduated from college. Jenny gently waved an infant’s hand at Sally as she stepped up to accept her degree, Geoff shouting how proud he was over the clapping of her colleges. Jenny had taken more from da after all; getting married, having a baby and becoming the top of her firm. Her husband sat beside her, beaming up at Sally as mum held their second child. 

Mum hadn’t changed save the streaks of silver running through her vibrant red hair. Da told Sally that she still liked to dream her own universe but she wasn’t hindered or other-wise incapacitated. 

Seems like she’s taking care of me more than I’m taking care of her. Da had said with a smile. 

In the first few months they both watched her like hawks but it turned out to be no worry. She began laughing and joking like nothing had every been amiss. That had been years ago and they all laughed It off like it had been a joke. 

How does it feel, mum asked with a smile. 

Like I’m on top of the world. Sally laughed back. 

Mum had taken to settling on the back porch when the sun had gone down and da let her sit alone. The cold makes my bones ache. He’d say with a wink but Sally knew he just liked giving ma some space to just be. 

When they were alone, she’d stare at the sky with a longing that made Sally ache as much as her father did. 

Mum? 

Yes bird. Her mother was always absent at times like these but she always answered. 

How do you know so much? 

Sally had never asked before. Sometime during her childhood she’d leaned that other people’s mum’s weren’t fluent in every language, didn’t know how to calculate the velocity of a meteor thirty million light-years away, how to build a skyscraper- but mum did. Mum could do all those things and so much more- so much more. 

The girl would see it in her eyes as Mum turned away from the stars, that single moment where every answer, every possibility laid in her grasp; an unfathomable wisdom swimming in their depths. In a single moment Sally knew she should have been afraid of the elderly woman in front of her, afraid of those ancient eyes but in the next heartbeat, it was just mum. 

Sometimes my head hurts. Mum explained once, not turning away from the moon. It’s almost like a burn. Her hair had almost gone completely silver, a few red streaks remained as a reminder of her fire. 

And is it worth it. Sally asked. 

She seemed so lost but in those rare moments, in the moments mum disappeared and someone else stared back at Sally, she had never seemed more alive. 

It’s worth it every time. Mum had answered. Because I remember being with him. 

x 

Mum never tells Sally who he is, no matter how many times she pesters her. 

He’s your father. She insists but Sally can read her almost as well as she can read her father- she knows when words are heavier than other, where phrases turn to loaded pistols. 

Sally watched her siblings get married, watched how their resulting offspring from hell captured her own heart. She had gotten married as well but she was content with her husband and he content enough with her to spoil their six nieces and nephews. The offspring travel around the neighborhood in a violent pack of joy filled shouts, luring all the other children from their houses to play wild imaginative games. 

Sally laughs with her brother and sister, the stars clustered overhead when her ears stop and notice. 

It’s awfully quiet. She remarks, glancing over her should worriedly. Where there were children but a moment ago now stands empty. 

Geoff casts her a careless shrug. Mum’s telling them stories. 

Sally watches her mother through a pane of glass from the kitchen. The odd assortment of children seated in front of her is almost comical but Sally doesn’t dare interrupt. Since her father passed, this is the most she’s heard of her mother’s voice. She’d learn later that these children would gather around every other week and beg stories from her, wanting to hear everything she had to offer. Some nights she would send them away but most times, on nights like these, she would weave a world so vast, so fantastic they would stay far longer than she would speak. 

Wonder, such wonder. Sally could see it in their eyes as she listened to her mother speak, the same wonder infecting her own mind. For a moment Sally allowed herself to be lost in such a world of fantastic adventures, lost in the heart wrenching love her mother poured into every word. She so desperately wanted to believe, to know it was true but almost as soon as her mother started speaking, she stopped. 

That’s enough for tonight children. She would say to the chores of disappointed pleas. It’s getting late. 

Looking at her own watch, Sally knew it was true. After the children had finally been called home and the block was silent once more, she settled beside her mother. Her hair was as silver as the moon, her strong face a picture of strength as she resolutely studied the heavens above them. 

Was it real? Sally asked. She wanted so badly to believe her heart ached for the stories so different form this mortal coil. Maybe the good guy did win, maybe nobody had to die, maybe she could venture forever, maybe she could laugh at fate, maybe, just maybe, time could be rewritten. 

Mum only smiled. Does anything have to be real for it to matter? 

x 

Years later, Sally stood above the ground that was shaking yet still, gripping a small rosemary plant as she slowly seated herself beside the recently disturbed soil. 

For remembrance, Sally recalled her mother stating. Rosemary for remembrance. She waited until mum’s beloved stars rose high above her, waited until the moon finally showed his smiling face before digging into the dirt and planting the herb next to the silent stone. Does anything have to be real for it to matter? 

No. She says aloud, years past, years lived and loved, years later. 

Because I believe in him. 

Because I believe in you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the details of the names; Geoff was her father’s name and while I would have loved to include the honoring of Wilfred in this story, I am considering a fanfic of his own in the later chapters. Sally was named after Sally Sparrow (which is why Donna calls her Bird as a nickname). While Donna herself never met her, I like to think that within all her memories of DoctorDonna, she would have stood out as an extremely brave woman. Jenny, as you probably know, was named for obvious reasons.  
> The reason behind Donna not sharing her adventures so openly with her family was for two reasons; if your mom suddenly started spouting how she used to be a time traveler and the most important woman in the galaxy, your first reaction would be to say that she’s crazy (or in my case, breath a sigh of relief because she’s finally back to normal). Donna being the DoctorDonna knows this so she gives her adventures to those who are in frightful need of them. Children now a days need hope as much as the adults. They need to see the world as somewhere light can shine and thrive so Donna gives them a universe worth living for.  
> In the end, I really think that’s the essence of what Doctor Who is; hope disguise as fantastic adventures. And hey, if it can inspire me, it can inspire anyone. 
> 
> And thanks again for reading- give me more responses at what you would like to see.  
> Allonsy! 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for the Doctor Who Fandom. Cried a couple of times but hey, I always loved Donna and hated the fate she suffered. I always appreciate reviews and if anyone has a request as to a story they would love to read and be written, you only have to ask me in the reviews. I really hoped you loved this as much as I enjoyed writing it and thank you for reading. Allonsy! 


End file.
